Big Ticket Seller Tried Deal With Scalpers

By

Ethan Smith

Updated Aug. 28, 2009 12:01 a.m. ET

Before Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc., the nation's leading ticket seller, and Live Nation Inc. decided to merge, Ticketmaster pursued a strategy to thwart the concert promoter's plan to enter the ticket-selling business, according to several people familiar with the matter. Spearheaded by Irving Azoff, Ticketmaster's current chief executive, the effort sought to combine several of the nation's biggest ticket scalpers with Ticketmaster and other major concert-industry players. At the time, Mr. Azoff was the CEO of Front Line Management, which handles dozens of top musical acts and was partly owned by...